Treatments For Anxiety Of The Chronic Kind

As much as 5% of the UK’s population suffers from severe, chronic, unwanted anxiety. This harmful, and occasionally pathological, anxiety differs from “good” stress or “good” anxiety. The “good” kind of anxiety is the mind and body’s natural reaction to a difficult situation that requires immediate action. For example, many people are anxious before taking a test or performing in front of others. This reaction of stress quickens the heartbeat and sharpens the senses, often resulting in a superior performance on the exam or stage. Additionally, when facing a predator or a difficult physical trial, many people experience anxiety in the form of the fight-or-flight response. This, again, improves physical performance.

Anxiety is “bad” to the extent that impedes, rather than helps, action. For example, many people who become so paralysed by performance anxiety as to be unable to perform might wish to seek treatments for their anxiety. Another example of “bad” or harmful anxiety is when people who so frozen with fear at the sight of an enemy that they deliver themselves right into its maw.

Finally, one of the most frustrating types of anxiety of all is known as generalized anxiety disorder. People who are constantly afraid suffer from this disorder. They often find themselves unable to escape their fearful thoughts. At the same time, they can’t say what it is that they fear. Their minds are beset by constant seemingly trivial worries, which come to carry terrifying weight. Each trivial worry is but a manifestation of the underlying fear that governs their lives. Sufferers of generalized will always have something to worry about.

Fortunately, there are ways to fight back against chronic anxiety. There are ways to mitigate, or even stop, harmful, unproductive, sourceless fear.

One of the best treatments for anxiety is to discuss and articulate one’s feelings in a supportive environment. Many people with generalized anxiety disorder are, ironically, afraid to talk about their fears. Because they have trouble articulating what it is they are afraid of, they suspect that others will ridicule their emotions. Even worse, they fear that their well-meaning friends will dismiss their feelings, rather than acknowledge them. Fortunately, many self-help groups exist for sufferers of chronic anxiety to discuss their fears together. These groups often help victims of chronic anxiety to discuss their fears with loved ones, as well.

Exercise and right eating are other good ways to reduce anxiety. Exercise forces one to focus on the body, and takes one’s mind of the realm of the hypothetical, which is where the fears live.